I'm crying again. But that's in honor of King Tut. He wouldn't mind. How did it happen that Aidan had just drawn him into this painting of our family? How did it happen that the New York Times just published a piece on the Armand Hammer's Ann Philbin who wants to turn that museum into a "place" for us to gather? to show the work of new young artists? We hope. Hope matters. We express ourselves with art. Art matters. We love. Love matters.

I can't say what I'm feeling for young Tut. But I do know that Aidan's painting let me show that I am feeling that he'll always be with us in our hearts. Memory is so much a part of voice. I think they call it culture. The visual says so much, so simply, so directly.

Several times in the last two days Arnold and I have asked each other how this could hurt so much, when King Tut was our cat. What would the pain be like had he been a child? In Iraq? What is the pain like if one is struggling daily to let one's loved ones survive?

Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who shared our pain with your support. May we transform the dominant discourse with such support for each of us, everywhere.

NEWS, Announcements, and

Current Discussion Topics:

Moving Transform Discussion Group to Yahoo.

We are trying to move the online discussion group to Yahoo Groups because we are unable to use threading and archiving on the CSUDH server. Until I can set up my own software, I'm hopin that the Yahoo solution will work for us.

I'm not even sure one can say that: ontological hope. Freire said we have an ontological need for hope. But you know what I mean. And I'm not a philosopher, not writing textbooks to be sure you'll say it the "right" way. I'm just someone along the way sharing what I've learned with all I can, that we may find each other as the means to satisfy that ontological need.

Lecture on a project I'd like to try: In issues of gender and poverty and incarceration and race, I would consider setting out social constructs like bits of a jigsaw puzzle and looking for different patterns that might emerge if we use deconstruction to reconfigure them. I'd actually like to build the jigsaw puzzle as an interactive activity for the gallery exhibit on November 30 and December 1. Anyone willing to play with me on this one? More up soon.

I'd really like to create a movable sculpture with pieces we could move around like giant chess pieces and in the process reconstruct the cycle of poor school, ghettoized community, limited paths out, incarceration, out and back into the cycle of poverty and class and race as an interactive activity for the gallery exhibit on November 30 and December 1. Anyone willing to play with me on this one? More up soon. as an interactive activity for the gallery exhibit on November 30 and December 1. Anyone willing to play with me on this one? More up soon.

Some classic theory we need. One-sided and two-sided arguments, the American Soldier, and relative deprivation. Certification vs. education and the conceptual link to competence. A nurse makes a mistake at MLK, and her need for air traffic controllers. The strength of marriage and family roles, and how they affect our lives as unstated, almost iconic, expectations and assumptions.

Lecture up soon on An Inexplicable Vote for Death Editorial from the New York Times, October 9, 2004. Backup This is one of the major social issues in the election. Where do you stand on mistakes that you made and how you correct them? Bush never answered it in Friday night's debate. He doesn't make mistakes. Here's one. The judges are appointed by the President on the Federal Bench and the U.S. Supreme Court, this man's last resort.

Background Theory for the Discussions We Were Having White privilege; Bush as "stupid"; "we know they're going to close MLK, so why bother?; not enough nurses in California, so hospitals in danger of closing; obesity, agency and the social construction of control; nation-state and sovereignty and international law. Lecture notes from Thursday, October 8, 2004.

Plagiarism Watch www.streetgangs.com site. The intelligent and effective use of resources means that you have to be careful not to plagiarize other people's material. We have several files on plagiarism, but I think the one that might make the most sense to you is this complaint on streetgangs.com. They give you samples of sites that have taken their material without citation, even at colleges, and they also give you examples of sites that have used their material with proper attribution. I find the irony poetic, and hope that their message will get through to you the importance of attribution. Dr. O'Connor on his Mega Criminal Justice site led me to streetgangs.com and noted that others frequently hack into the site. For that reason I have created a backup copy for your use in case you cannot access the actual site. Please be sure to attribute any citation to streetgangs.com. jeanne Backup.

Letters of Recommendation: How to get me to respond to your request. Many of you need letters. If you will follow this format, I can do them quickly and make them good.

Dog Letters If you do not give me adequate information, but do manage to get my attention, you may end up with a dog letter. That is a letter that says that you work well with people, that you are enthusiastic, that you persist at getting things done, and that everyone likes you. Of course, my dog gets along well with people, brings his ball to them, is enthusiastic, and persists at getting them to take his ball. Everyone likes my dog. That's a dog letter. It's so general it could be about my dog. jeanne

This piece ties in with our whole discussion of aesthetics and their role in our knowledge. What is art? Why did we take art away from those who dont' engage in it "professionally"? What are sports? Why did we remove it largely from those who don't engage in it "professionally"? Art as recreational pursuit and sport as recreational pursuit would remove some potatoes from couches. So does music as recreational pursuit. If "couch potato" is a major health problem, does this suggest some non-linear, i.e. non-norm/counternorm ways to different and healthier life styles?

Flying Good Dogs: Whenever something happens in class that works out well, that inspires you, that helps in studying, whatever, take a few minutes to send us an e-mail. We'll post it where all of us can learn from it, including other teachers.